Attempted suicide, drug overdoses, hatred of God and ruined teenage years are among the effects of sexual abuse described in a Feb. 11 Houston Chronicle report on sexual abuse among Southern Baptists.

Two Southern Baptist mental health experts say the effects of sexual abuse against children and teenagers are actually worse than the Chronicle described. They also say churches and pastors can mitigate those effects with prompt, biblical and wise responses.

“There are many more” effects of abuse “than the ones listed in the article,” said Chuck Hannaford, a Memphis, Tenn., clinical psychologist. At times, abused children and teens “have fear of being touched. Some get into sexual promiscuity. They can have habit disorders – biting, rocking, pulling their hair out.

“They can be aggressive at times because they’re keeping this stuff in. Self-injuries, behavior [issues], sleep problems. You can go down the list. Everything that is within the diagnostic context of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder they will have,” Hannaford told Baptist Press. “It’s a very traumatic event that can make life-changing negative impacts.”

The Chronicle said its investigation of sexual abuse among Southern Baptists had revealed approximately 380 instances since 1998 – including more than 250 since 2008 – of “those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned.”

The crimes have left more than 700 victims, the newspaper stated.

Citing the Amplified Bible’s rendering of Matthew 18:1-6, Hannaford described children as “trusting, lowly, loving and forgiving.” Abusing children is horrific because it “changes the way they think about themselves, they think about God and they think about relationships. And often these children feel what we call the ‘damaged goods syndrome’ – they feel dirty.”

In the long term, childhood sexual abuse can result in the abused experiencing sexual difficulties in their own marriages, becoming overprotective as parents, keeping other people at arm’s length and even becoming abusers themselves, said Hannaford, who served on the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s Mental Health Advisory Group. At times, victims don’t realize their harmful behaviors stem from the abuse they suffered as children.

Dale Johnson, associate professor of biblical counseling at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, stated that “everyone” who has suffered abuse “endures some symptom or long-term effect that often takes a while to overcome, because when you’re talking about sexual abuse, it’s so intimate that it touches so many aspects of a person’s being.”

The first way to mitigate the effects of childhood sexual abuse is to report the abuse to law enforcement authorities, Johnson said. Hannaford noted the law in all 50 states requires pastors to report alleged abuse of children.

After proper reports have been made, Johnson said, churches must help victims understand the acts done to them were evil and not their fault. “If we’re condoning [the abuse], their world remains quite confused as to what’s good and what’s evil.”

Churches also must build networks around abuse victims comprising believers “who are supportive, who are caring, who are trustworthy so that we can begin to see true redemption occur for somebody who’s been so violated,” said Johnson, executive director of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. The “ministry of presence” is vital.

Hannaford urged churches to create support groups for sexual abuse victims to communicate love and tell victims they don’t have to feel ashamed of what happened. Care from a local church also should include referral of victims to mental health care providers who can help identify unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Pastors without specialized training in the care of trauma victims should always refer sexual abuse victims to mental health care professionals and not try to provide all necessary care themselves, Hannaford said. Approaching abuse with a “hyper-spiritual focus” or lack of training can set back a victim’s recovery.

“Most of the time,” Hannaford said, individuals who were sexually abused as children or teens will require “months of regular counseling, sometimes years” depending on “the intensity of the treatment” that may be needed.

Above all, Johnson and Hannaford underscored, the most important way to help underage abuse victims is to report their allegations to the authorities. Churches also must put protective measures in place, including background checks, to prevent abuse in the first place.

“The church has to do everything it can to protect the children and offer some sort of help for members that have experienced [abuse],” Hannaford said. Church leaders “should be prosecuted if they know of allegations of abuse and do not report it” to legal authorities.

International Mission Board President (IMB) Paul Chitwood has set forth his vision for Southern Baptists staying abreast of the work of the nearly 3,700 IMB missionaries taking the gospel to the nations.

“Stewarding the unique role of the IMB in the missionary call requires that we are able to communicate with Southern Baptists,” Chitwood told trustees in his recent report to the board.

Roger Alford, a career journalist who has served as director of communications for the Kentucky Baptist Convention the past five years, has been named vice president of communications for the IMB.

“In many ways the IMB symbolizes the Great Commission arm of the SBC as it extends to the nations,” he stated, noting, “When the Great Commission isn’t the focus of our work and relationships, peripheral issues, classroom debates and personal conflicts seem always to fill the void.”

Chitwood has named Roger Alford, a career journalist who has served as director of communications for the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC) the past five years, as the IMB’s vice president of communications.

During their Feb. 6-7 meeting in Richmond, trustees affirmed Chitwood’s selection of Alford to fill the newly created vice president [of communications] role for the 173-year-old mission board. Chitwood said he is thankful the Lord is bringing Alford to help lead IMB efforts to mobilize Southern Baptists for international missions.

“To ensure that we, at the IMB, are doing our part in setting the Great Commission firmly in front of Southern Baptists, I’ve asked the best communications director I know of in Southern Baptist life to join our team,” Chitwood said. “Over the past five years, Roger Alford transformed communications efforts in Kentucky and helped the KBC create connection to Kentucky Baptists that had never before existed.”

The IMB vice president of communications role is designed to build and maintain a communications approach, operation and staff to best serve the needs of the IMB and the Southern Baptist Convention. As Alford begins serving alongside the existing IMB senior leadership team in March, he will spend his first season on the job evaluating the mission board’s current communications efforts and working with the senior leadership team to develop a comprehensive communications strategy for the organization.

“I look forward to seeing how God will use Roger to pull together and develop the gifted team members who are already on board to ensure that Southern Baptists know the IMB; that IMB knows Southern Baptists; and that all of us better know our missionary heroes and the lost world God has called us to reach,” Chitwood said.

Alford said he is thrilled that Chitwood and the IMB’s trustees have entrusted him with the privilege of telling the stories of IMB missionaries.

“These are truly modern-day heroes of the faith who have committed their lives to working in difficult and often dangerous places around the world,” Alford said.

After more than three decades as a newspaperman and an Associated Press correspondent, Alford joined the KBC in January 2014. In that role, Alford, 56, created the online newspaper Kentucky Today, wholly owned by the KBC, to expand the KBC’s ability to communicate with its 2,400 churches and 750,000 members.

“Roger Alford is an exceptionally gifted communications professional who will effectively tell the story of the ministry of IMB missionaries to Southern Baptists,” said Jim Donnell, co-interim executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, which saw the benefits of Alford’s leadership in communication.

Photo by Chris Carter, IMB
IMB trustee David Miller, right, from Tennessee greets Roger Alford, center, who will begin serving as IMB vice president of communication in March. In the role, Alford will build and maintain a communications approach, operation and staff to serve the needs of IMB and the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Roger Alford is one of the hardest-working men I know, and combining his work ethic with his communication skills, he revolutionized Kentucky Baptist Convention communications,” Summerlin said. “Through his efforts, people around the world visited the website Kentucky Today to receive news about Kentucky Baptists, Baptist life and news from a Christian perspective. What he accomplished here is amazing.

“Although we are saddened in our state convention [that] he is leaving, we are thrilled at the prospect of what he will do to communicate the missional message of the IMB worldwide,” Summerlin said. “The IMB and Southern Baptists will be blessed by his work.”

Analytics showed the online newspaper had 500,000 readers last year in communities across the state. The actual number of readers is even higher because the KBC newspaper also operates a wire service that provides articles to newspapers across the state and a radio network that provides up to 10 newscasts per day to radio stations across the state.

“Roger Alford, in his capacity as editor of Kentucky Today, provided a vital service to Kentucky Baptists and the broader community in our state,” said Tim Searcy, pastor of Allen Baptist Church in Prestonsburg, Ky., and president of the KBC. “He had a passionate desire to see the churches motivated to greater and greater service for the Lord. It is my belief that he will do the same for the International Mission Board and for the cause of Christ around the world. Roger has a heartfelt intention to do his part in seeing that the Great Commission is fulfilled. I count him as a dear friend and feel the loss to Kentucky, but our loss is the IMB’s gain. May God bless him in his work of communicating to us and enticing us to missions.”

Alford has broad experience in managing all aspects of communications, including writing and editing, all aspects of traditional and social media, web development, marketing strategies, media relations, graphic design and mass mailings.

He and his wife Susan are members First Baptist Church in Owenton, Ky. They have three grown children: Emily, a teacher; Joshua, a corrections officer; and Mary, a journalist.

Andrew Doherty is his formal name, but those who know him best call him “Adoh.”

Photo courtesy of OU Athletic Communications"Adoh," track captain at the University of Oklahoma and a new follower of Christ, now sees his running as a way to "give Him glory."

Adoh (derived from his first and last names) transferred to the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 2017 after running track at Providence College, where he earned three all-conference honors as a distance runner. Adoh came to OU, thinking it would help him pursue a career in running.

Growing up in Boston, Adoh had no previous knowledge of what it meant to be a Christian. He found out later that less than three percent of the Boston population claimed Jesus as Lord and Savior. But once he came to Oklahoma, his exposure to Christianity increased extensively.

“There were multiple people who would talk to me about Jesus,” Adoh said. “I thought, ‘What is up with these southern people and Jesus?’”

A girl he met on the OU softball team invited him to church. A strength coach shared his testimony. “I felt like I had a sign on my forehead that said, ‘This kid needs Jesus,’” he said.

Adoh appreciated the many people who shared Christ with him, but he did not take what they were saying seriously. He became the captain of the OU track team, so running competitively and leading his teammates was all he was focused on.

That all changed last summer. While at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colo., he met a guy named Cheyton, a former athlete who introduced himself as a missionary. Discouraged after having a hard time in a training session, Adoh thought he would listen to what Cheyton had to say.

When Cheyton offered to buy him dinner, Adoh got more than a free meal. As Cheyton was talking to him about Jesus, Adoh started to become more interested. He still had a lot of questions, but Cheyton encouraged Adoh to begin to see Jesus in a clearer way.

At a second meeting, Cheyton brought a friend with him to talk to Adoh. They talked about giving up everything to live for Jesus, which was a bold concept for Adoh because all he had known in his life revolved around running. There was no way, he thought, he could give that up.

Cheyton and his friend encouraged Adoh to join in a time of prayer, when he prayed for the first time.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Adoh recalled. “I just started apologizing to God. But then I remembered saying, ‘God, if You are real, prove it to me.’”

Submitted photo"Adoh," right, and Bronson Baker of the Baptist Campus Ministry at the University of Oklahoma started a Bible study last fall, inviting members of the OU track team, growing to more than 20 in attendance.

Right then, Adoh said he lost feeling in his legs. He, Cheyton and Cheyton’s friend were in a circle, and he had to grab hold of both of them not to fall.

Five minutes later, he was able to stand on his own, but it was enough to change his life. “I took a 180 in a matter of five minutes,” Adoh said.

In less than a week, Adoh was back at OU for move-in day for the fall semester when he met Bronson Baker, a campus missionary through the OU Baptist Collegiate Ministry.

“The first thing Adoh told me is ‘I’ve been a Christian for five days,’” Baker said about meeting Adoh. “He is fired up for the Lord.”

Baker and Adoh met over lunch and talked about the importance of discipleship. This is when Baker learned that Adoh was reading the Bible for the first time.

“I started explaining to him what Jesus did in investing in these 12 guys,” Baker recounted. “For three years, Jesus gave them everything He had. As a side note, I said, ‘Only 11 of those guys worked out.’ He replied, ‘No, no, no! I just read something about that. Two of them didn’t. That one guy denied Him three times.’ Then I realized he hasn’t even got to the point in John where Jesus restores Peter. So I told him, ‘Man, you’ve got to keep reading.’ And he’s been in the Word every day ever since and growing.”

Adoh told Baker he wanted to start a Bible study and invite others from the track team. “God was putting in my heart a passion to help other people,” Adoh said. “I told Bronson, ‘I want to start a Bible study, but I don’t even know the Bible,’ and he said to me, ‘If you get them there, I’ll help you lead it.’”

The first Bible study was in Adoh’s apartment with five others. Then he went to the track coach to see if they could use the track team room to have a Bible study.

“The track coach was blown away,” Baker said. “He knew how Adoh was when he first came to OU, and it totally caught him off-guard when Adoh asked to use the team room for a Bible study.”

Throughout the fall semester, Adoh and Baker led a weekly Bible study. When Adoh got up, as team captain, during the team meetings to talk, he ended his time inviting his teammates to the Bible study, which has grown to more than 20 people.

With the spring semester beginning, Adoh is looking forward to what new people will attend the Bible study.

“People come up to me, thanking me,” Adoh said. “‘You are helping me grow closer to Christ,’ they tell me. I tell them it’s not me, it’s the Lord.”

Adoh is still committed to pursuing his goals as a professional runner, but now his focus is different.

“I want to minister to as many people as possible,” he said. “My life is now totally devoted to Him. This gift of running is from Him for me to glorify Him. I recognize that this isn’t me doing the running. As long as He allows me to run, I will give Him glory.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Chris Doyle is managing editor of the Baptist Messenger, baptistmessenger.com, news journal of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.)

IMB photoA group of Macedonian Baptist leaders listens to a pastor from Mississippi share about beginning discussion-led small groups. IMB missionary Jeff Williams says he hopes every Baptist Macedonian can learn to start evangelistic Bible studies outside of church walls.

A group of Macedonian church leaders gathered in 2017 in the small nation’s capital, Skopje, to talk about evangelism and church planting. But when they discussed starting new groups as a method of outreach in the European nation of 2 million, no one had anything to contribute – they had never seriously talked about it before.

A few years earlier, International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries Jeff and Amy Williams had asked a local Baptist pastor to send out one of his best couples to join them in starting a new church. The pastor hesitantly agreed.

Wanting church planting to be at their group’s core, the Williamses felt the first step was to teach Christians to lead Bible studies outside the church’s walls.

“In an Orthodox setting they’re not going to come to the church building, but you could start a Bible study with them,” Jeff Williams said of the country’s primary religious tradition. “We want to make sure our Baptist believers are able to lead new evangelistic Bible studies.”

Last year, momentum began to emerge as local Baptists attended a training about discussion-led small groups. Additionally, the local leadership of CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) wants to help students start new groups. And Baptist leaders heard from Russian pastors who have started churches.

IMB photoMacedonian church leaders join in a discussion about church planting after collectively realizing they had not previously been serious about starting new churches.

This openness, Williams said, is the result of decades of praying and talking about church planting in Macedonia, a Balkan nation to the north of Greece. It’s as if local Christians have suddenly awakened to the idea.

Pray that Macedonian Christians and ministry leaders will continue to catch the vision of church planting. Ask God to give them a passion for talking about scripture outside the church’s walls. Pray many Macedonians will follow Jesus as a result of this fresh awareness of church planting.

Gifts through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering support Southern Baptists who can live alongside Macedonian Christians to help them learn how to plant healthy churches and expand their gospel witness in Europe.

Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear has set forth counsel to victims of sexual abuse who have not yet sought help.

An article coauthored with biblical counselor Brad Hambrick has been posted at Greear’s website, jdgreear.com, and is printed in full below.

BP file photoJ.D. Greear

Greear is pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C., and Hambrick is the church’s pastor of counseling and an instructor of biblical counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

“Realize you did nothing wrong,” Greear and Hambrick write. “Abuse is never the fault of the abused.”

They acknowledge, “It is understandable to be afraid,” in providing encouragement to utilize channels to speak with someone “who can help you process the abuse and resulting trauma.”

–––––

Following is the full text of the article by Greear and Hambrick, titled “700 is not the total number: How to get help.”

On Feb. 10, the Houston Chronicle published an article titled, “Abuse of Faith: 20 Years, 700 Victims: Southern Baptist Sexual Abuse Spreads as Leaders Resist Reforms.” As I (J.D.) mentioned yesterday, what this article describes is heinous. There can simply be no ambiguity about the church’s responsibility to protect the abused and be a safe place for the vulnerable.

We completely agree with the words of ERLC President Russell Moore:

“Jesus does not cover up sin within the temple of his presence. He brings everything hidden to light. We should too. When we downplay or cover over what has happened in the name of Jesus to those he loves we are not ‘protecting’ Jesus’ reputation. We are instead fighting Jesus himself. No church should be frustrated by the Houston Chronicle’s reporting, but should thank God for it. The Judgment Seat of Christ will be far less reticent than a newspaper series to uncover what should never have been hidden.”

But anger and grief, while appropriate responses, are not sufficient to protect victims. What can easily be lost in the size of these numbers, which are grievously large, is the tragic fact that they cannot be the whole story.

More must be said and done in the coming days. But today, we want to provide some initial guidance to victims who have not yet come forward on how they can receive care.

If you have been victimized by a church leader (or anyone else for that matter) and the Houston Chronicle story rekindled fear and doubt about how you could receive care, please hear us: we are profoundly sorry. It is an unjust tragedy that you experienced abuse in the past. And it is unjust and tragic that you feel fear in the present.

We, the church, have failed you, but we do not want you to forgo care or counsel. To that end, here are some options to consider:

1. Realize you did nothing wrong. Abuse is never the fault of the abused. The appropriate response of anyone who is representing Jesus to you should be care and compassion.

2. It is understandable to be afraid. When people who should be trusted (like church leaders) violate that trust, it can make an already fearful situation (like abuse) even more disorienting.

3. Speak with someone who can help you process the abuse and resulting trauma.

– For immediate guidance, here are three numbers where you can reach trained professionals who are available 24/7:

* The National Hotline for Domestic Violence, 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).

* The National Child Abuse Hotline, 1-800-422-4453.

* The Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

– For ongoing care, identify a counselor near you who is experienced in working with abuse and trauma. If you need help finding a counselor, here is guidance on finding a trusted Christian counselor near you with experience in your area of need:

If you are not ready to speak with someone yet, consider reading On the Threshold of Hope by Diane Langberg or The Emotionally Destructive Marriage by Leslie Vernick. Both of these books do an excellent job of describing the healing process after abuse and would provide a taste of the benefits you would receive from working with a Christian counselor.

4. If you were abused as a child, then a report to Child Protective Services (or your state’s equivalent) will need to be made. If you are fearful to take this step alone, the counselor you speak with can help you do that.

5. If you are an adult who has been abused, the offense against you is no less wrong. Know that you have a choice about when in the process of your recovery that you choose to seek justice.

Taking the steps in #4 or #5 ensures that the crime (not just sin) your abuser committed against you shows up on a background check. This helps protect others. Reporting a crime is not just a matter of protecting others, though. It can also be an important step in restoring your voice.

6. When you are ready, involve your current church in your recovery journey. This assumes you are not in the same church where your abuser is in leadership. It is understandable if you do not take this step for a while. Don’t feel rushed. Your first step in this direction might be inviting a Christian friend to be an advocate in your counseling sessions. God is a patient Shepherd who walks at the pace of His sheep (Psalm 23:4).

Before we close, let us say something directly to pastors and church leaders:

The Summit Church photoBrad Hambrick

Please share the resources above through your personal and church’s social media accounts. It is easy for church leaders to become self-centered and self-protective when news of churches’ failures come to light. But it would be another tragedy and a reinforcement of the problem if we allow that to happen.

People in our churches and community need to know that we are concerned about their safety, not about our reputation. Until that confidence is restored, no one who has been abused will feel safe in our churches. The way we respond in this moment – either in protecting and caring for victims, or defending ourselves and our institutions – will either obscure or adorn the Gospel we claim to preach.

Pastors, let us also remember to be patient with those who are understandably slow to trust. Even if we are not individually guilty of the things being discussed, people in our roles who said the kind of things we say are guilty of these very things. For those who have been abused or are close to a survivor, trust will come slowly.

As leaders, we need to remember that trust should not be an assumed entitlement for those who hold positions of authority. When situations are suspicious, then mistrust is not a sin. It is, in fact, wisdom rather than vice. For those who have suffered injustice and great harm from ministry leaders, their mistrust is something to be honored, not rushed.

Imagine it this way, if your child was abused by a teacher, wouldn’t you want your child’s next teacher to be patient with your child’s fear? Sure, the teacher could easily personalize that fear as mistrust and respond defensively. But the only appropriate response – the one you would want for your child – is one of patience.

If you want to learn about the impact of abuse, we would recommend this series of podcasts from Diane Langberg entitled Church as Refuge, online at http://www.dianelangberg.com/free-podcasts/page/2. Dr. Langberg will be giving similar lectures in the Washington, D.C., area on Feb. 15-16. We encourage as many ministry leaders as possible to attend.

And one final word, this time to everyone: while it is not enough to “just pray,” we absolutely should be praying for those who have been abused. Praying for the 700 people in the Houston Chronicle article. Praying for the many, many other victims who have not yet come forward. Praying for the abused in our very churches.

In addition to grieving and praying, we need to make sure, to the best of our ability, that those who are hurting in silence are cared for. What we have described here can help us toward that end.

There is more to be done. More will be coming out from our Sexual Abuse Advisory Group in the coming days.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – J.D. Greear is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, N.C. Brad Hambrick is pastor of counseling at The Summit Church and an instructor of biblical counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.)

J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), has announced the names of individuals who will serve on the Committee on Committees for the June 11-12 SBC annual meeting in Birmingham, Ala.

BP file photo

Greear announced the committee’s chairman on Feb. 4, Sky Pratt, associate pastor for mobilization at Prince Avenue Baptist Church in Athens, Ga., and vice chair, Ashlyn Portero, executive director at City Church in Tallahassee, Fla.

The Committee on Committees will assemble in Birmingham, Ala., just prior to the SBC annual meeting to nominate members of the Committee on Nominations who will, in 2020, nominate trustees for the boards of SBC entities.

The Committee on Committees has 68 members, two from each of the 34 states and regions qualified for representation on boards of SBC entities.

Greear issued a 250-word statement about the full committee:

“I am pleased to announce this outstanding group of Southern Baptists. We began last August when I first asked state executives and associational missions strategists for input. These individuals all desire to keep the ‘Gospel Above All’ of our differences and be a unifying group around Jesus’ work and his mission.

“This diverse group of Southern Baptists believe completely that we must continue to work to be a convention that reflects the coming kingdom, that keeps evangelism as our priority, emphasizes church planting as God’s plan ‘A,’ and engages the next generation in cooperative mission. All of these marks are what I believed the Holy Spirit was leading me to by allowing my name to be nominated by Ken Whitten last year and what this group believes as well.

“Many of the members of the Committee on Committees are in churches that were started in the past decade. It’s critical that we engage those new to our processes early in the life of their churches so that they develop a clear understanding of the importance of cooperation toward our common mission as Southern Baptists. This committee represents churches of all sizes, ethnicities and theological persuasions involved in the Southern Baptist Convention.

“It was my goal to select Southern Baptists who would represent their fellow Southern Baptists well, and while Cooperative Program (CP) giving wasn’t used as a measure for these appointments, the average CP giving percentage of this group is higher than the average Southern Baptist church.”

Greear said Pratt and Portero are “two dynamic Southern Baptist leaders, and they will lead this committee well.”

Pratt described the committee as “truly a reflection of Christ’s kingdom. We are thrilled to have such a diverse representation of Southern Baptists serving. Our prayer is that this committee with help our churches reach all nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Amanda*, a Future & Hope CWJC participant who has been on her own since age 15, is now a 24-year-old mom with three young sons who currently live in foster care. Candidly sharing her motivation for joining the program in Paragould, Ark., she said, “I came here to try to get my kids back … but I need a foundation before I can get them back.”

Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps, ministries of national Woman’s Missionary Union, include nearly 200 certified sites throughout the country. The ministry sites are designed to equip participants in a Christian context for life and employment.

Pursuing the vision of “women helping women change their future and find hope,” the Paragould ministry echoes Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”

“Oh my goodness, we have seen God work such miracles in these women,” said Carol Foster, site coordinator for Future & Hope. “I think what strikes me the most is just how they feel about themselves and how they begin to understand who they are in God’s eyes.

“We always talk about, You are who God says you are regardless of what other people have said about you or to you,” Foster said. “They begin to get a little sense of that. I see them learning about God through the teachers here, not just in the material but in the way that they’re accepted and loved on throughout the program. It allows us to treat them like they’re special because we know that they are but they just haven’t seen it so often.”

WMU photo by Pam HendersonCarol Foster is founder and site coordinator for Future & Hope Christian Women’s Job Corps, housed in a former parsonage provided by First Baptist Church in Paragould, Ark.

Just a few weeks into the program, Amanda commented, “I have come to the realization that God is my outlet and He’s going to provide my every need – and that’s never been something that’s ever went through my mind before. My faith has grown so much and I know that no matter what, I don’t have to turn to drugs because I’m not alone. God is going to provide my every need.”

Acknowledging that “I have always depended on men who were not good for me or for my kids,” Amanda added, “Now I depend on God. I feel better, I feel more content, more happy than I’ve ever felt. … I’m excited for my kids to have a mom, not a teenager or not a friend. It’s what I’ve always wanted to be. I just didn’t know how to do it.”

Such results are what Foster had hoped for when she sensed God’s guidance to establish Future & Hope several years ago, since enlisting numerous individuals, churches and area businesses to help support the ministry.

With a background in school counseling and prison ministry, Foster said she realized there were so many unmet needs among women and families struggling with difficult issues. “When I first heard of Christian Women’s Job Corps, it was just like God said, ‘That’s what I want you to do.’”

After completing CWJC’s Level 1 National Certification Training for Site Coordinators, Foster approached First Baptist in Paragould about using the church’s former parsonage as a ministry site.

They agreed on a trial basis to “see how it went and reevaluate it at the end of six months,” she recalled. “It’s been six years and we’ve never done a reevaluation. They just allow us to use it and we try to take the best care of it that we can.”

Future & Hope CWJC operates with a team of volunteer teachers as well as a board of directors and an advisory council who provide ministry ideas, personal support and resources to help the ministry succeed.

Jeff Boone, an insurance agent and member of Reynolds Baptist Church, serves as advisory council chairman. Describing the ministry as “a hand up, not just a handout,” he noted, “It actually makes a difference in people’s lives.”

WMU photo by Pam HendersonParticipants in the Future & Hope Christian Women’s Job Corps gather for lunch and fellowship as part of the ministry in Paragould, Ark. Area individuals, churches and organizations volunteer to provide the meals for each 10-week session.

With the program’s focus on personal spiritual growth, strengthened relationships and job skills, Boone said participants “can learn to take care of themselves as well as their family and then be able to take care of others in the future in our community.”

“I liked the idea of being able to reach women that would not normally walk through the door of a church, women that are in crisis,” Mitchell said. “I hope that I can maybe clear up some misconceptions they have about God and that they’ll realize He really does love them, that He’s a loving Father.

“So many of the women that come through the job corps have very difficult relationships so they feel kind of beaten down and I want them to know that God is for them, not against them,” she said. “I always hope they fall in love with the Bible and want to seek and learn for themselves.”

Recounting a recent example, Mitchell said, “I was teaching on Psalm 23 and one of them jumped up in the middle of class and goes, ‘I finally get it!’ And she was so excited that God was her shepherd. She had never understood that before. It made her glow with excitement because she realized He really was watching out for her and caring for her and guiding her.”

For Amanda – and dozens of other women who have gone through the program – Future & Hope Christian Women’s Job Corps already has made an impact.

“I’m learning things that I probably should have learned a long time ago as far as making good choices and decisions,” she said. “Just having someone teach me the right thing, having this guidance is absolutely amazing.

“I’m so grateful for what these women do here. They are not just volunteers, they are angels,” Amanda said. “Christian Women’s Job Corps gave me my faith and my hope.”

*Name changed to protect participant’s privacy.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Trennis Henderson is the national correspondent for WMU and former editor of the Western Recorder of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Arkansas Baptist News state convention news journal.)

The state of Nevada and United Airlines are newcomers to a 2019 watchdog list of the top 12 contributors to sexual exploitation in the U.S.

National Center on Sexual Exploitation artworkThe state of Nevada, Sports Illustrated magazine and United Airlines are 2019 newcomers to the Dirty Dozen list of the top purveyors of sexual exploitation.

Nevada enslaves women through legalized prostitution and United Airlines has not addressed passenger reports of inflight sexual assault and harassment, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) said in releasing its 2019 Dirty Dozen List Feb. 11.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (SI), Netflix and Massage Envy spa also made for the first time the Dirty Dozen list of companies that promote and enable sexual exploitation.

“No corporation or mainstream entity should profit from or facilitate sexual exploitation,” Haley Halverson, NCOSE vice president of advocacy and outreach, said in releasing the list. “Unfortunately, many well established brands and organizations in America do just that.”

Nevada’s legalization of prostitution, active in 10 counties, has enabled the state to become the largest illegal sex trader in the country, with 63 percent more activity there than in New York state, the nearest aggressor, NCOSE said.

“Under this legal framework, women are consumables,” said Lisa Thompson, NCOSE vice president of policy and research. “Like all systems of prostitution, Nevada’s sexploitation industry has a predatory dependence on women facing dire economic circumstances, and oftentimes with childhood histories of neglect and sexual abuse.” Women are sometimes recruited from jails, their bonds paid by brothel owners, NCOSE said.

While complaints have occurred on “virtually every airline,” Halverson said, “United aircrews have apparently received especially ineffective training.” The airline “appears to be chronically ill-prepared to address the growing problem of viewing pornography on airplanes, which creates a culture of sexual harassment.” In the enclosed environment of air travel, she said, children likely would be exposed to pornography.

Among other top abusers, SI peddles women’s bodies for public consumption, Massage Envy mishandles complaints of sexual assault committed during massages, and Netflix promotes child prostitution, NCOSE said, notably in its original series “Baby.”

The Dirty Dozen list “is an activism tool that gives the power back to individuals to speak out against corporatized sexual exploitation,” Halverson said. CVS Pharmacy’s removal of the SI swimsuit issue from checkout counters is one of NCOSE’s latest victories, Halverson said.

Among other NCOSE’s successes, Halverson said, Google no longer links pornographic videos to advertisements; Hilton Worldwide and other hotel chains no longer offer pornographic movies on demand; Walmart has removed Cosmopolitan Magazine from its checkout aisles; and the U.S. Department of Defense no longer offers pornographic magazines on military bases.

NCOSE markets itself as “the leading national organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health crisis of pornography.”

A Houston newspaper, in reporting on instances of sexual abuse by pastors and others at Southern Baptist churches, has left SBC President J.D. Greear “broken over what was revealed today.”

BP file photo

“The abuses described in this @HoustonChron article are pure evil,” Greear stated in a series of tweets after the Houston Chronicle reported Feb. 10 on instances of abuse by ministers, youth pastors, Sunday School teachers, deacons and church volunteers.

Along with its 6,000-word report, the Chronicle released a database of 220 individuals who have been convicted of or pled guilty to sexual abuse crimes.

The Chronicle said its investigation had revealed approximately 380 instances since 1998 – including more than 250 since 2008 – of “those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned.”

The crimes have left more than 700 victims, the newspaper stated.

One of the victims died of a drug overdose 14 years after she was molested in 1994, the Chronicle reported, citing criminal and civil court records. The 14-year-old slit her wrists after the 1994 incident. Her mother blames the daughter’s subsequent death on the trauma she suffered, the newspaper stated.

“I join with countless others who are currently ‘weeping with those who weep,’” Greear stated on Twitter, voicing resolve to mobilize the SBC in “stopping predators in our midst.”

“The voices in this article should be heard as a warning sent from God, calling the church to repent,” Greear tweeted. “As Christians, we are called to expose everything sinful to the light. The survivors in this article have done that – at a personal cost few of us can fathom.”

Greear also tweeted:

– “There can simply be no ambiguity about the church’s responsibility to protect the abused and be a safe place for the vulnerable. The safety of the victims matters more than the reputation of Southern Baptists.”

– “As a denomination, now is a time to mourn and repent. Changes are coming. They must. We cannot just promise to ‘do better’ and expect that to be enough. But today, change begins with feeling the full weight of the problem.... It’s time for pervasive change. God demands it. Survivors deserve it. We must change how we prepare before abuse (prevention), respond during disclosure (full cooperation with legal authorities), and act after instances of abuse (holistic care).”

– “We – leaders in the SBC – should have listened to the warnings of those who tried to call attention to this. I am committed to doing everything possible to ensure we never make these mistakes again.... We must admit that our failures, as churches, put these survivors in a position where they were forced to stand alone and speak, when we should have been fighting for them. Their courage is exemplary and prophetic. But I grieve that their courage was necessary.”

– “The Baptist doctrine of church autonomy should never be a religious cover for passivity towards abuse. Church autonomy is about freeing the church to do the right thing – to obey Christ – in every situation. It is a heinous error to apply autonomy in a way that enables abuse.”

D. August Boto, interim president of the SBC Executive Committee, said in an interview with the Chronicle that the newspaper is “not the opponent of the Southern Baptist Convention.”

“You’re helping us. I’m all for shining the light of day upon crime,” Boto said.

Russell Moore, president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote in similar fashion in a commentary after the report was published, “No church should be frustrated by the Houston Chronicle’s reporting, but should thank God for it. The Judgment Seat of Christ will be far less reticent than a newspaper series to uncover what should never have been hidden.”

Moore referred to the Sexual Abuse Presidential Study initiated by Greear last year, which is “assigned with investigating all options and reviewing what other denominations and groups have done to keep track of abuses, while hearing from law enforcement, psychological and psychiatric experts, survivors, and many others.”

“Our approach is seeking to encourage policies and practices that protect children and the vulnerable from sexual abuse in autonomous but cooperating churches, all the while promoting compliance with laws and providing compassionate care for those who have survived trauma,” Moore wrote.

“True, we have no bishops. But we have a priesthood of believers. And a key task of that priesthood is maintaining the witness of Christ in the holiness and safety of his church. That means training churches to recognize sexual predation and how to deal with charges or suspicions when they emerge, and equipping churches to stop the pattern, in their church or from their church to others.”

Boto, in written comments to Baptist Press, noted that even before 2008 “the Executive Committee was calling on anyone who becomes aware of, or suspects, sex abuse in any form to report immediately to law enforcement. Law enforcement has the authority to investigate fully any allegation of sexual abuse. One of the God-ordained roles of government is to punish evil-doers.

“It is my hope and prayer that this report will serve as a stirring reminder of God’s call to personal holiness for all believers, Followers of Christ should not ‘participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them,’” Boto said, referencing Ephesians 5:11.

In the interview with the Chronicle, he voiced “anger” at the tragic reality that sexual abuse occurs.

Boto said his “perception of your doing a report is probably more positive than you would suspect” for “lifting it up again anew and afresh. Why? Because not only Baptist churches but all churches are considered by sexual predators to be soft targets.... [W]e harden those targets by making people aware of the malevolence that exists.”

He also stated, “Crime is crime and needs to be dealt with like crime. Because that’s what it is. And so, reports to law enforcement should be immediate.... Believers of all kinds sometimes lead themselves to the conclusion that mercy should preempt justice. The Bible says that those two things are not mutually exclusive. They co-exist in the very character of God. I’m afraid sometimes people opt for mercy to the exclusion of justice, when in fact justice is corrective. Justice is God’s technique for dealing with sin.

“So I’m all for mercy. But it should not be precluded by justice. In fact, [mercy] should not precede justice,” Boto said.

The SBC Executive Committee has a longstanding resource page focused on preventing sexual abuse in churches, available here. The webpage includes a link to the National Database of Sex Offenders at nsopw.gov/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.

In a 2018 resolution at the SBC annual meeting in June, messengers renounced “all abusive behavior as unquestionably sinful” and called for decisive action to report abuse allegations to law enforcement authorities. It also offered compassion to abuse victims, “being careful to remind the abused that such injustice is undeserved and not a result of personal guilt or fault.”

“The great reason for a loss of passionate evangelism is faulty discipleship,” said Sammy Tippit, president of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists. “The early days of my ministry took place in communist countries where generations of youth where forced to study atheism in schools. The social and cultural pressure to not speak about one’s faith was overwhelming.

“Yet, Christian young people in Romania would ‘gossip the gospel’ at great risk to their future,” Tippit told Baptist Press in written comments. “What was the difference in them and today’s youth? Absolute surrender to Jesus. Taking up their cross and following Him. They were taught from the beginning that it costs everything to follow Jesus. We’ve given simplistic solutions and called for comfortable Christianity.”

Johnny Hunt, the North American Mission Board’s senior vice president of evangelism and leadership, said millennials’ reticence to share their faith “is what all of our generations are exhibiting in the church today. Believers of all ages are not evangelizing and that is what we are trying to turn around.”

Among U.S. millennials who are practicing Christians, 47 percent agree “it is wrong to share one’s personal beliefs with someone of a different faith in hopes that they will one day share the same faith,” according to research by the Barna Group released Feb. 5. Millennials’ level of agreement with that statement was higher than among Generation X (27 percent), baby boomers (19 percent) and elders (20 percent).

Still, a full 96 percent of millennial Christians in the U.S. believe part of their faith is “being a witness about Jesus,” Barna reported. Ninety-four percent say “the best thing that could ever happen to someone is for them to come to know Jesus.”

Barna defined millennials as individuals born between 1984 and 1998 (ages 21-35).

Millennial Christians’ belief that evangelism is wrong came in spite of high self-confidence about their witnessing abilities. Barna reported 86 percent of millennials said they know how to respond “when someone raises questions about faith,” and 73 percent said they are “gifted” at sharing their faith.”

Hunt, a former Southern Baptist Convention president, said believers should “be careful not to hit the panic button over a single answer to a survey” because millennial believers “have the potential to have a huge impact for Jesus. I have met so many who are sold out to Jesus and serious about having an impact for Him.

“More than anything, this report should cause us to look at our churches and ask ‘What are we teaching our young people? Are we effectively passing the faith baton to the next generation?’ In most cases the answer is ‘we need to do better,’” Hunt said.

Tippit likewise cautioned against painting “an entire generation with a broad brush when we see studies like the Barna one.” Yet cultural and church-related trends “have played a role in producing a spirit of fear and timidity about evangelism among millennials.”

“Today’s culture seduces this generation with a thought process that says that all faiths are equal,” said Tippit, an evangelist based in San Antonio, Texas. “Today’s philosophy says that it doesn’t matter what you believe or don’t believe, and anyone who says it does matter must be a bigot.”

Within churches, Tippit said, part of the failure to disciple millennials is not exposing them “to the huge multitude of Christian youth” around the world “who once were Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and atheist” and have come to Christ through “great moves of the Spirit of God” in “places like China, Iran and India.”

Global millennial believers are “on fire” for Christ, Tippit said.

U.S. millennials’ lack of exposure to global Christians is “paradoxical because millennials are a generation that is multi-cultural, multi-national and multi-ethnic,” Tippit said. “... We need to build networks through social media, the internet and communication technology that enable this generation to rub shoulders with those who have the smoke of heaven in their hearts.”

LifeWay Research’s 2018 State of Theology survey, sponsored by Ligonier Ministries, found 90 percent of 18- to 34-year-old evangelicals say it is “very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.” LifeWay Research’s survey did not ask about millennials’ practice of personal evangelism.

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Since 1833 the Biblical Recorder has served North Carolina Baptists as the Baptist State Convention's official news journal - with the emphasis on news. The paper was founded by Thomas Meredith, an early pastor, writer and denominational statesman in North Carolina.